And I laughed because I’ve said it myself in the past. Melanie is certainly not alone. But maybe it’s something we need to take a little more seriously…

Most bookkeeper businesses have no plan

According to a fairly recent ICB survey, only 3 out of 10 bookkeepers running a business have a fully completed 5-year business plan.

Recently, I was teaching a webinar for bookkeepers about writing a strategic business plan. I wanted to find out if this statistic was still accurate, so I asked for a show of hands.

First, I asked everyone on the call to raise their hand if they had a written business plan. Only one bookkeeper of the thirty on the webinar raised their hand. I thought maybe everyone had fallen asleep!

So then I tried asking the question in a different way. I said, “Who doesn’t have a business plan?”

Everyone raised their hands except for the one person. Yikes! Only one in 30 bookkeepers had a plan – that’s even worse than the statistic suggested.

“I just fell into it” isn’t a plan

You might have fallen into bookkeeping, but did you fall into business? And even if you did, isn’t it time you started taking things more seriously? Ouch!

If you want to run a successful business, falling into it just isn’t going to cut it. In case you haven’t noticed, falling into something is about as strategic as a piece of driftwood that’s hoping it’ll end up on a nice, sandy tropical island… when actually, it’s headed straight for a smelly mudflat. Bluhhghh!

You have to be strategic if you want to change

When I was a teenager, my best friend’s mum gave me some valuable words of wisdom. Sadly, it took me another twenty years to take her advice and apply it in my life. She said:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” – Robyn

This is just one of the reasons that it’s important to have a business plan. The reality is, time goes very fast. Remember when you were 18? Me too. Feels like yesterday. It wasn’t… it was two decades ago! (Or was it three? Can’t remember…) I can almost guarantee that this time five years’ from now, you’ll wish you’d started today.

You have a choice…what will it be?

If you’re in the 70% of bookkeepers who have no plan… the good news is that you have a choice. You can make a change and start being strategic today. Or you can do what you’ve always done, and just keep drifting along. Which choice will you make? It’s really up to you.

And if you want to make a change, you don’t have to do it alone.

So what’s the next step? Would you love to free up your brain-cells, prepare for the future and spot gaps in your business? Join me online for my free Business Planning training.

Learn more about the savvy Bookkeeping Business Plan

Join me for the Business Planning Basics webinar. It’s FREE!

During this 35 minute webinar presentation, you will learn;

why it’s important to have a written business plan

what’s involved in business planning

which is the best stage of business to start a business plan

why more people don’t have business plans

how to get started with your business plan

and earn a CPE point (happy dance!)

Find out if a business plan is right for you – book in for the webinar, or watch an instant replay now.